peace and quiet

Well, if last Thursday was one of the busiest nights I've seen out at Pontiff, this Sunday afternoon was one of the more peaceful and quiet times. Which is of course to be expected, with Jazz Fest and other festivals, crawfish boils, and other such gatherings all over town. So with the more easygoing atmosphere, it seemed appropriate to do a slower paced workout. Not easier, by any means, but not a high tempo one. So in contrast to the interval training of the last couple of sessions, the key component of Sunday's session was slow-paced, form-oriented, balance-enhancing strength development. Cone-touch-T-bends and one-legged-squat-thrusts were two of the more challenging exercises we executed, while one-leg-low-hops with distractions (easy math problems) served as an unusual and interesting break between those. We worked some arms with lateral (in a circle) crab-walks, and I would not be surprised to hear about some sore shoulders and/or wrists on Tuesday (but that's OK...in this case, sore is good!) And of course we did not neglect the abdominals, repeating one particular drill (ankle-reaches, which is basically a continuous crunch-hold with twists) several times throughout the session.

The weather was glorious once again, with the sun keeping things on the warm side but the gentle breeze and the shade of the trees offering the refreshing cool (although Neil would disagree about the breeze being gentle, since he was doing a track workout and getting whipped by the wind from every side along the way...excellent workout for him though, with a solid set of straights and curves).

As I promised, I put together some challenges/workouts for the days we don't meet, which you can find below. If you choose to partake, please let me know how it goes! And remember (as much as I hate quoting well-known lines, this truism can never be overstated) that champions are made when no one is watching. With that in mind, here are your challenges for this week:

Monday -- "TV challenge" --> if you watch any TV in the evenings, use every commercial break as an opportunity to do a simple exercise; a few push-ups, maybe a couple of crunches or lunges; and when it gets closer to bed-time, change it up so stretching; and if you don't watch TV, then take short breaks from your usual end-of-the-day activities to squeeze in a few drills (a watch or a cell phone that has an alarm that goes off every so often can be of great benefit here)

Wedneday -- "The Energizer" --> get your day started just a bit earlier than usual with an early morning warm-up; nothing intense like the workouts we do, but a simple routine of stretching from head to toe; getting your heart beating just a bit faster than at rest; do this as one of the first things you do after getting out of bed; and have yourself a healthy breakfast afterwards; the idea is to get a headstart on the day, as opposed to slowly waking up over the course of the entire morning

Friday -- "Dance!" --> whether you go out to a dance club Friday night or turn up the stereo in your living room, just dance; no rules, no shame, no kidding; by yourself, with a friend, with you kid, no matter; the only catch is obvious and that's to keep it up-tempo; keep it moving; feel free to video it and impress us with your skills (or never let anyone know about it except for you)

Saturday -- "AB challenge" -- if you did this last Saturday, you now have a basis for comparison, which means do more this time around; if you haven't tried it yet, the idea is simply to get as many abdominal exercises done throughout the course of the day as possible, and keep track of it (so next time you can compare); for anyone following these blogs closely, I promised to share my outcome of this challenge from last week - it wasn't as many as I wanted, but I did manage to remember enough to do 200 sit-ups and 200 crunches over the course of the day.

GOOD LUCK and see y'all Tuesday evening,

~Phillip Glotser

Around the park

April 23rd, 2009

This evening, we left the comfort and coziness of our meeting area and made our way to several locations around the park (but still close to the track...for now) to train. We used the raised foundation of the flagpole to do some cardio foot-work, got up on bleachers to run stairs, went out to the parking lot area to charge up and down the levee, used the curb of the track to do calf raises, before finally coming back to the shade of the meeting area to finish up with some core work. I actually had some other places/drills in mind but had to cut them out because for some reason or another, this was one of the busiest evenings I've seen at Pontiff - there were not one but two corporate parties (crawfish boils) going on in addition to the usual swarm of little kids playing baseball. So the gazebos were packed, as was the parking lot area. Good thing that our workouts don't really require much space or equipment, so we still had plenty of room to work with. I think it was another solid workout. I'm already noticing slight improvements within the group - already, no one is stopping early within intervals nor starting late after scheduled breaks.

Let's keep at it! Friday is designated as an unofficial leg-strengthening day, so let's see who can come up with the most creative ways to exercise the legs throughout their busy day! And on Saturday, abs, abs, abs! I personally look forward to taking on that challenge myself. Ask me how my belly feels on Sunday...if it's not at least a little sore, I didn't do enough!!!

Best wishes to everyone JazzFesting this weekend. Please be safe, including drinking water and wearing sunscreen!!! Take care, and see y'all at Sunday's session.

P.S. -- Feeling motivated to train more?!?! Check out Coach Brad's training session out in Destrehan on Saturday, April 25th at 8:30am -- the group meets at East Bank Bridge Park, which is right off River Rd right by the I-310 exit (not sure where that's at? Google it!!! or e-mail one of us... pglotser@yahoo.com or teamxyg@gmail.com)

Take care,
Phillip Glotser

---Tuesday, April 21st---

A classic training session this evening -- linear dynamic drill sets alternated with ab sets. For the linear drills, we stayed on the track, going back and forth between sets of cones about 15 meters apart. Once again, I am still gauging abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, so the drills consisted of a variety of strength and cardio exercises, with some balance and coordination elements. A few examples from that include several types of skips, toe-up walks, calf raises, and lunges. For the abs, the first set included different kinds of delayed crunches (3-count hold) while the second set was one of my personal favorites -- the seated twists where a ball (volleyball for now, medicine ball later) gets passed around the circle and we all do 2-4-6-8-6-4-2 reps on each turn. Loose warm up of leg swings against the fence in the beginning; some static stretches at the end.

I also threw out some suggestions of what to do on the days we don't have workouts scheduled in order to help establish the mindset of doing something active or beneficial to your fitness every day. So on Wednesday, I hope everyone takes me up on the "heart rate challenge" and does something (anything) about once an hour to get their heart rate up, even if momentarily (from physical activity that is!!! watching a scary movie doesn't count)

Remember to stretch if you're sore, and make ice your best friend. Any questions, suggestions, or comments, please share. I'd love to hear from EVERYONE.

Sincerely,
Phil Glotser

Stations

Thursday - April 16, 2009

Tonight's workout was by far my favorite kind - STATIONS. This little bias most likely stems from a few years ago (about a decade now to be more precise), when I first started training under Coach Brad Taliancich at the old JCC, where he was working as an athletic director and training me for the Maccabi games (a sort of mini-Olympics for teens). We did a lot of station work then, and I thoroughly enjoyed those workouts. So if you're training with me, you can expect these station workouts, though not necessarily the same stations as tonight since I will continue to make every workout as unique as possible.

There we 2 sets of 4 stations tonight, which we ended up rotating through 3 times (that works out to 6 total sets, and 24 stations total), with 45 seconds for each station and 30 seconds to recover and move on to the next one. Since we are still in the early stages of training with this group, I chose the stations to maximize the overall fitness, as opposed to isolating any body part or focusing on any type of activity (strength, cardio, etc). With a group of 8 tonight, we had a very nice distribution of 2 people per station, which worked out well with the pairs pushing and motivating each other throughout the workout. The weather was once again agreeable (I don't want to jinx it, but it's important to note) and the ladies worked hard! I have a real good feeling about this group, and truly believe we can accomplish a lot over the next few weeks.

The official 6-wk session starts next week. Please remember to sign up for the class at www.teamxyg.com ... we will start on time (6:00 PM) so please be prompt ... looking forward to ANOTHER GREAT WORKOUT.

Sincerely,
Phillip Glotser

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

As I mentioned last time, I try to diversify the training session as much as possible. So naturally, the workout this evening was considerably different from last time. Hope everyone enjoyed it! Instead of Tabatas, we did 3 ten-minute sets of continuous exercise tonight. The first set was more cardio oriented, including much running (in place), skipping, and hopping. The second set was geared toward lower body muscle stength and endurance, including several variations on power jumps, squats, and lunges. And the last set was done on the grass and included ab work as well as hip and glute exercises. Everyone was encouraged to pace themselves as much as possible in order to keep up with the exercises for the entirety of each set. However, the option to take a quick breather at any point was on the table. Most were able to get by with no more than a few very short breaks in each set, so I must say I'm quite proud of everybody. The better the group dynamic, the better the individual effort (and the greater the results!). Also in contrast to the last session, we had different music selection. I tried to put together as eclectic of a mix as I could, as long as the songs had a good rhythm to workout too. At the end of the workout, I encouraged everyone to start a workout diary or some kind of a journal to keep track of your fitness efforts. It REALLY helps in so many ways. Not only is it a good tool for keeping yourself motivated and on track, but it also allows you to analyze your own workout patterns and figure out WHAT WORKS BEST for you. So for those of you who took my advice to heart, here's some other relevant details that I suggest you include in your entry: the weather was comfortable - pretty warm but with a cool breeze; the first two sets were done on the (cinder) track and the last one on the grass; recovery time between sets was 5 minutes; there was no separate 'warm-up,' since the first set was designed for that purpose ((NOTE: I'm mentioning these details because they can significanly influence how you felt during and after the workout; you should also include how you felt, what you thought, what you ate, what was the best part, what was the worst part, and any other factors you consider important))
Thanks for another great session... see you next time,

~Phil Glotser

We're back!

After a little hiatus, shall we say, FitFunCamp is BACK! Thanks to everyone who came out to the training session today. The weather was very agreeable and the group energy was great. A lot of new faces (new to me! and I guess I'm new to them =) today, which is always pleasant. The workout today was Tabata sets, with a dynamic warmup before and a set of static stretches afterwards. I tried to do an all-inclusive session today, so the Tabata sets had leg, arm, and ab strength drills as well as cardio exercises. As usual, I added some options to make some of drills more/less challenging, depending on need and ability. There were a lot of good questions asked during and after the session, so I'd like to use this blog outlet to recap the answers to some of them, as well as some of the other pointers I made:

- No, every workout will not be the same. To keep things interesting, I try to diversify the workouts as much as I can. Some days will be more all-around fitness training (like today), while on other days there may be more focused sessions, such as core strength or muscle endurance for example. Not to worry, whatever the focus is, I WILL include drills for all fitness levels, so as long as you come ready to work hard, YOU WILL be able to keep up and benefit from the session.

-Pre/Post workout nutrition: This one is a toughy... everybody has unique nutritional needs and habits and what works for one person may be a horrible idea for someone else. But there are some general guidelines to keep in mind. First of all, HYDRATE. There are so many reasons that being well hydrated for the workout is important, I'd rather not take up the space listing them. But if you do nothing else, PLEASE be hydrated (and bring a bottle of water or sports drink to stay hydrated). But for some, it is also important to get a little snack in before workouts to get the energy levels up, which is fine. Pick something that won't sit heavy in the stomach. Bananas are HIGHLY recommended, but also rice cakes with peanut butter or some reduced sugar spread, or a granola bar. In all truth and honesty, it will probably be trial and error - figure out what works best for you and STICK TO IT (remember, it takes at least a couple of weeks to develop a habit so be patient with yourself).

- OK, I see I can get carried away here, so in the interest of keeping this (relatively) short, here's my last pointer - we will be doing plenty of exercises on the grass/ground, and it won't always be as pleasant as it was today. Rain, mud, and insects have a tendency of raining on our parade, so I highly encourage everyone to bring at least a TOWEL or a yoga mat to the sessions for the drills that are on the ground.

Alrighty folks, looking forward to the next session. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or constructive criticism PLEASE let me know (either by commenting here or e-mail at pglotser@yahoo.com). The more input I get, the more you will benefit from this!!!

Have a healthy and happy day

~coach Phil Glotser